izg 



Y HISTORICAL HANDBOOK NO. I 

Eleventh Thousand 



Boo^s for the Million — Price for the Million 



St. Paul's Chapel 



(Erected A. D. 1766) 



The Oldest Public Building and the only 

Colonial Church Edifice in 

New York City 



By CHARLES FREDERICK WINGATE 

Member of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society 

and of the City History Club. 



PRICE TEN CENTS 



PUBLISHED BY 

ALBERT B. KING & CO, 
J^5 William Street 

NEW YORK 




Class 


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Historical Handbook No. i 

Eleventh Thousand. 



St. Paul's Chapel. 



(Erected A. D. 1766.) 



The Oldest Public Building and the 07ily 

Colonial Church Edifice in 

New York City. 



CHARLES F. WINGATE, 

Member of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation 
Societ)^ and of the City History Club. 



PRICE TEN CENTS 



PUBLISHED BY 

ALBERT B. KING & CO.. 
105 William Street, 

NEW YORK. 



LSGlGlOGiCALSysyEY 
JUL -8 1905 



LIBRARY. J "a.^' 



/ 



COPYRIGHT, 1901 

BY 

CHARLES F. WINGATE 



3y iia£J32Mf, 



But there are deeds ivhich shall not pass away, 
And names that must not wither, though the earth 
Forgets her empires with a Just decay. . . . By ROW 



Dedicated 

to the 

HONORABLE ANDREW H. GREEN, 

" FatJier of Greater New York " 

and 

President of the American Scenic and Histcric 

Preservation Society. 



What constitutes a State f 

Not cities tall, with spires and turrets crowtied— 
***** 

But men, high-m,inded men." 



"I well understand how yon should feel excited by 
visiting such places as Kingsbridge, White Plains and 
Bemis Heights. I never knew a man yet, nor woman 
either, with sound head and good heart, who was not 
more or less under the power which those local associa- 
tions exercised. . . I have a pair of silver sleeve-buttons, 
the material of which my father picked up on, and 
brought away from, the field of Bennington. If I 
thought either of the boys would not value them fifty 
years hence (if he should live so long), I believe I 
would begin to flog him now." 

DANIEL WEBSTER. 



St. Paul's Chapel, 




T. PAUL'S," the oldest church 
edifice in New York, is the only 
colonial house of worship stand- 
ing on its original site. Services 
have been held there continuously for over a 
century ; eloquent divines and laymen have 
spoken from its pulpit; Lafayette was wel- 
comed there in 1824. Washington, Ben- 
jamin Harrison and Grover Cleveland have at- 
tended its services. Four American Bishops 
were consecrated at one time, and many impos- 
ing funerals have been held within its walls. 
Eminent men and women, of every profession 
and clime, repose within its vaults and 
grounds; statesmen, soldiers, sailors, clergy- 
men, savants, advocates, physicians, trage- 
dians, sculptors, artizans and inventors; some 
of noble birth, with many of humble extraction, 
resting quietly, ''afterlife's fitful fever," in an 
eternal sleep. The inscriptions on their tombs 
vividly recall the history and achievements 
of the past. 



The corner-stone was laid May 14th, 1764, 
in a growing wheat field at the corner of " The 
Broadway " and Partition, now Fulton Street, 
opposite the old Boston Road. It was the 
third '* English " church on Manhattan Island, 
Trinity having been founded in 1696, and St. 
George's in 1752. The building was planned 
by McBean, a pupil of Gibbs, the London 
architect, who built St. Martins-in-the-Fields. 
The Chapel was considered unsurpassed in this 
country for beauty of design, harmony of pro- 
portion, and tasteful embellishment. The gal- 
leries are supported by fluted wooden columns 
with square pedestals. The oak pews are 
low, broad and comfortable. The pervading 
dignity and simplicity impress every visitor. 

Entrances at the North and South were 
closed to provide state pews for the Royal 
Governors, and later for President Washington. 
The chancel contains six monumental tablets, 
several having armorial devices, erected in 
memory of 

Rev. Samuel Auchmuty, D. D., first Rector. 

Mrs. Charles Inglis, wife of the second Rector, 
afterwards Bishop of Nova Scotia, and to com- 
memorate his oldest son "as a testimony of the 



tenderest Affection to a dear and worthy Wife 
and Esteem for a devout Christian, and of the 
fondest Regard for an Amiable Son who although 
in Age a Child, was yet in understanding a Man, 
in Piety a Saint, and in Disposition an Angel." 
(Erected 1788.) 

Thomas Barclay, British Consul-General and 
Vestryman. 

Sir John Temple, Bart. — First Consul-General to the 
United States after Independence was declared. 

Rip Van Dam, chief of the Provincial Council and 
temporary Governor in 1731, after the death of 
Governor Montgomery. 

Elizabeth, wife of Governor William Franklin 
(son of Dr. Franklin) of New Jersey, who was 
" decently interred in May 1777 the next evening 
after her death," and who is described as " a loving 
Wife, an Indulgent Mistress, a steady Friend and 
afifableto All." 

A Latin tablet to Captain Chapm.\n, whose person- 
ality is unknown. 

On the north side. 

Rev. James Mulchahey, S.T.D., for twenty years in 
pastoral charge of St. Paul's and afterwards Vicar 
Emeritus, D. D. 1873-1897— erected by the con- 
gregation and by friends among the clergy. October 
30th, 1901.— "They that turn many to righteous- 
ness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." 

On the rear wall. 

George Warner, January 4tb, 1825. 



Christina, wife of Geo. W. Chapman, Medicus 
1816. 

Effingham Warren, September 30th, 1796. 

David, son of Robt. McKean, who died of yellow 
fever 1795, •• in the midst of his usefulness," aet, 33. 

Thomas Barrow (1825), and Sarah Barrow (1786) 
— erected by their son. "Piety, Justice and 
Benevolence adorned their lives." Mr. Barrow, 
who lived to be 89, was one of the oldest re- 
corded. 

John Wells, 1770-1823, erected by members of the 
bar, as a testimony to one "who elevated and 
adorned their profession by his integrity, eloquence 
and learning. " 

On the south side. 

Geo. William Wright. Vestryman (1813-73). 
This tablet was transferred from the Church of 
the Annunciation in 1898. His wife was a daughter 
of Rev. J. F. Schroder. " Blessed are the Meek." 

Over the Washington pew is the Seal of the 
United States, and opposite is the coat-of-arms 
of New York State. The bronze tablet, to the 
right, was erected December 14th, 1899, by 
the General Society of Cincinnati and by the 
Sons of the Revolution, to commemorate the 
Centennial Anniversary of Washington's death. 
It bears the insignia of the two societies and 
a fine medallion of Washington. The bronze 



tablet to the left was erected by the Aisle 

Committee, young men, belonging to old New- 
York families, December 7th, 1890, as a me- 
mento of the One Hundreth Anniversary of 
Washington's Inauguration. It bears the 
coat-of-arms of the United States, and of the 
Washington family, surmounted by a spread 
eagle and draped on either side by flags and 
branches of olive and oak. 

At the back of the chancel the curious alle- 
gorical design, illustrative of the delivery of 
the Decalogue to Moses on Mount Sinai, was 
erected to hide the back of General Mont- 
gomery's monument. 

The pulpit has a handsome winding stair. 
The sounding board is capped by what was 
supposed to be three feathers, the coat-of-arms 
of the Prince of Wales, the only remaining 
sj^mbol of Royal rule in New York, but recent 
investigation has proved this to be incorrect. 

The brass candelabra, presumably of French 
origin, show numerous figures of St. Hubert's 
hound. 

When, in 1790, the Fort at the Battery was 
demolished to build a mansion for President 
Washington, the body of Richard, Earl of 



Bellomont, who died in 1701, was found in a 
lead coffin in a vault under the first Dutch 
church, and was transferred to St. Paul's, but 
its present location is not known. The 
silver coffin-plate, it is said, was converted 
into spoons. 

Bellomont was Governor of the Province of 
New York just after the Leisler troubles and 
a business partner of the famous Captain Kidd. 

The President's pew was occupied by Wash- 
ington from 1789 to 1791, during his residence 
in New York. Washington's diary regularly 
records his attendance at the morning service, 
though he occasionally went to St. George's, 
which was nearer his Cherry street house. On 
Monday, July 5th, 1790, he wrote: '' About 
one o'clock a sensible oration was delivered in 
St. Paul's Chapel by Mr. Brockholst Living- 
ston on the occasion of the day." (The speaker 
was a son of Chancellor Livingston, and after- 
wards a Judge of the Supreme Court.) Old 
pew owners, as children, witnessed with wonder 
and admiration the entrance of General and 
*'Lady" Washington into the Chapel, and 
Nicholas G. Rutgers tells how he, with other 
boys, used to climb into the gallery every 

10 



Sunday to gaze upon the stately pair seated in 
their pew. 

Though most of his early life was spent 
among backwoodsmen, Washington had a 
great love of ceremony and display, and his 
canary-colored coach, drawn by four white 
horses, with liveried footmen, created no little 
stir in the City, at a time when most persons 
went on foot or on horseback. Even as late 
as 1800, only five residents of New York could 
afford to keep a coach, including Robert 
Murray, the wealthy Quaker, father of Lindley 
Murray, the grammarian, who modestly referred 
to his *' leathern conveniency " as an apology 
for such worldly display. 

The location of St. Paul's was exceptionally 
fine. The grounds sloped down to the Hud- 
son, and the western porch commanded a sweep- 
ing view of the harbor and Palisades. The 
Chapel, like the first Trinity building, faced 
away from Broadway, and the steeple, built in 
1794, was placed at the west end. The site, 
however, was considered too far out of town, 
and the vestry were criticised for its selection. 
Hanover Square was then the fashionable 
centre, and Robert Morris tells of walking ' * into 

11 



the country " from Queen (Pearl) Street to see 
St. Paul's. Groves and orchards surrounded 
the site, which was not fenced in for some time. 
Cattle wandered about the graveyard, and one 
warm Sunday, a stray horse entered the open 
door and proceeded halfway up the centre aisle. 

Later many tall and stately elms and chest- 
nuts grew up around the church and cast a 
grateful shade. When it became necessary 
to sacrifice one of these monarchs of the forest 
because of age and decay, George P. Morris 
was stirred to write his famous verse : 
" Woodman, spare that tree." 

At the foot of Vesey Street the Dutch forces 
landed in 1673 to recover New Amsterdam 
from the English. Washington also passed this 
way on his first visit to New York in 1775, to 
take command at Cambridge. A broad beach 
ran along the water front, and near the foot 
of Barclay Street, Jonathan Edwards, the fam- 
ous theologian, while temporarily preaching 
in Wall Street, used to take his daily exercise 
pacing to and fro along the pebbly shore and 
declaiming, like Demosthenese, to exercise his 
voice. 



u 



In St. Paul's Graveyard. 



Though St. Paul's is not so old as Trinity, 
yet the monuments seem more dilapidated and 
weather-worn. Many stones have scaled off in 
sheets and have had to be bound with wire. 
Others have settled in the ground until half of 
their inscriptions are hidden. Still others have 
only the faintest suggestion of lettering. The 
George Frederick Cooke monument has been 
restored four times within eighty-five years. 
Several other tombstones are out of plumb and 
look askew. Yet there is a dignity and charm 
about these old graves which one misses in 
modern cemeteries with their jumble of shafts, 
broken columns, and costly mausoleums. Here 
rich and poor, high and low, lie side by side ; 
the humble smith, cabinet maker, printer and 
"mariner" in close proximity to the wealthy 
merchant or official. While there is a cosmo- 
politan variety of nationality — Scotch, French, 
Dutch, German, Welsh, Swede, Hebrew and 
West Indian, with Latin and Gaelic inscrip- 
tions — yet Anglo-Saxon names predominate. 

One is constantly impressed with the brevit}- 

13 



of life in these early days, before sanitary 
science had taught the secret of longevity. The 
average age of adults is under fifty, while it is 
rare to find an octogenarian. Women died 
early, and most wives are recorded as under 
tliirty. Help were hard to get, and frail women 
succumbed early to domestic duties. One man 
lost two wives, both young, within three years. 
Children's maladies' were exceptionally fatal, 
and large numbers were swept off in infancy. 
A single tombstone records seven deaths under 
one year. It was a massacre of innocents. 

St. Paul's has few memorials to compare in 
interest and importance with those of Alex- 
ander Hamilton, Robert Fulton, William 
Bradford, Lord Stirling, Charlotte Temple and 
Captain Lawrence, but there are a number 
which are worthy of attention. The oldest 
gravestone is that of Francis Dring, aged 28, 
dated July 13, 1767, and the number steadily 
increased, especially during the successive 
epidemics at the close of the 18th century. 
Paupers', soldiers' and sailors' wives and children 
were buried with little ceremony in Trinity 
Churchyard, but the better class were interred 
in St. Paul's. Altogether there are 600 grave- 



stones, and Mr. Walter, the present sexton, 
has made a faithful and painstaking copy of 
every inscription. There are forty partly 
illegible ones. So many others are fast going 
to ruin that tiiis list will prove invaluable in 
the future. Every little while the identity of 
some forgotten person is revealed by accident, 
as in the case of Dr. Philip Turner, whose 
tombstone near the southeast corner is small 
and inconspicuous. His interesting history was 
lately related by a New England descendant. 

Dr. Turner was born in Norwich, Connec- 
ticut, in 1740. He served as an assistant sur- 
geon under General (Lord) Amherst in the war 
against the French and was present at the cap- 
ture of Ticonderoga. A powder-horn in the 
possession of his family bears the name '* Dr. 
Philip Turner, his horn, Fort Edward, 1758." 
He also served through the Revolution, was at 
the siege of Boston, and shared in Washington's 
campaigns in New York and Pennsylvania, 
being present on many battle fields. He was 
made Surgeon General of the Eastern Depart- 
ment and was specially commended for his skill 
and dexterity by General Jedediah Huntington, 
to whose division he was attached. He was 



the first surgeon in America to tie the femoral 
artery. After the war he removed to New 
York and took charge of the Government 
Hospital. He died in 1815, at the age of 
75. His Norwich home, where he had his 
office, bore a quaint relic of ancient customs — 
a curious sign on which was painted the 
Good Samaritan aiding the injured man, while 
the Priest and Levite pass by with averted 
eyes. 

The Broadway porch is guarded on either 
side and in the centre by the tombs of three 
eminent Irishmen : Richard Montgomery, 
Thomas Addis Emmet and Dr. MacNeven, who 
all married into American families and became 
leaders in society and in their several profes- 
sions. Montgomery was a brave and chival- 
rous soldier, and Emmet an eloquent advocate, 
while Dr. MacNeven " raised chemistry into a 
science." 

The Montgomery monument shows an urn 
upon a column, a Liberty cap, ancient casque, 
cannon, laurel, sheaf of wheat, and other em- 
blems. The Emmet obelisk of granite bears 
inscriptions in English, Latin and Gaelic, and 
also, for some unknown reason, the latitude and 



longitude of New York. The third monument 
consists of a granite shaft. '^ 

Dr. MacNeven, (1763-1841) was a devoted 
friend of both the Emmets, and as his epitaph 
states, sacrificed his early prospects for the 
cause of Ireland and passed years in poverty 
and exile. His scientific attainments and skill 
as a teacher of chemistry are set forth. " His 
clear, calm deportment and habitual prudence 
covered the warmest and most generous affec- 
tions." 

Thomas Addis Emmet, (1764-1827) was the 
son of an eminent Dublin physician, and the 
elder brother of Robert Emmet, who was ex- 
ecuted by the British government in 1803. He 
graduated at Trinity College, and after taking 
a course at Edinburgh travelled through Italy 
and Germany, and studied law in the London 
Temple. He began practice at the Dublin 

*in January, 1901, all three monuments were adorned 
with wreaths of laurel tied with ribbons stamped with 
miniature American and Irish flags, and each of the last 
two bore a card with this inscription: 

" Centuries may pass, 
The Spirit of Liberty lives on." 
" In loving remembrance, by 
The Irish Society." 



Four Courts and took an active share in politics, 
in time becoming a leader of the United Irish- 
men. He was arrested and lodged in Kilmain- 
ham jail, afterwards the home of Davitt, Par- 
nell and other political prisoners, and was later 
kept for two and a half years in Fort George, 
Scotland. He was liberated after the signing of 
the treaty of Amiens and banished from Ire- 
land. After a brief stay in France, he came to 
America in 1804, intending to settle in Ohio, 
but by the advice of George Clinton he wisely 
made his home in New York, and at once be- 
came a leader at the bar, though he was 
matched against Chancellor Kent and other 
legal lights. He took an active interest in 
many public matters. He was counsel for the 
Manumission Society. His sudden death 
occurred Nov. 14, 1827, from apoplexy, while 
he was defending a bequest for superannuated 
seamen, in the United States Circuit Court. 
Judge Duer compared Emmet as an orator to 
Edmund Burke, who was not an orator at all 
in the popular sense of the word. Judge Story 
praised his industry, learning and lucidity. Dr. 
Francis, who admired him greatly and attended 
him in his last illness, speaks in unqualified 

18 



terms of his eloquence, which he considered far 
surpassed the finest efforts of Lord Brougham, 
Sir James Mackintosh and Grattan, all of 
whom he had heard. Emmet was not buried 
at St. Paul's; his body lies in St. Mark's 
Church in the vault of his friend, Chancellor 
Jones. The common belief that he was buried 
in the Marble Cemetery in Second Street, next 
to President Monroe, is not correct. The 
granite shaft was erected in St. Paul's church- 
yard in 1833 through the efforts of Dr. Mac- 
Neven ; subscriptions were received from all 
parts of the Union, particularly South Carolina, 
and from Dr. George Cummings and a number 
of Roman Catholic priests. 

Part of the English inscription was composed 
by Gulian C. Verplanck, the lawyer-litterateur, 
Judge Duer wrote the Latin inscription, and the 
one in Gaelic was composed by Right Rev. 
Dr. England, Bishop of Charleston, S. C. 

Of Irish birth, Montgomery was educated in 
England, and entered the British army at 
eighteen, serving with conspicuous courage in 
the French and Indian War. At the siege of 
Louisburg, the American Gibraltar, he won 
warm commendation from the gallant Wolfe 

19 



for his coolness and capacity. The two men 
were of like mould, and by a curious coin- 
cidence after serving together, they were both 
killed almost on the same spot, under the walls 
of Quebec. 

At the close of the contest with France, 
Montgomery obtained leave of absence, and 
spent nine years in travel and study abroad. 
In 1772 he threw up his commission and 
returned to America, where he became a 
gentleman farmer at Rhinebeck, and married 
a daughter of Robert R. Livingston. But 
the advent of hostilities with the Crown soon 
ended " the quiet scheme of life " he had 
planned, and after serving as a member of the 
first Provincial Congress, he was appointed a 
Brigadier-General, June, 1775. Through the 
illness of General Philip Schuyler, he assumed 
command of the ill-fated Canadian expedition. 
Benedict Arnold's division penetrated the 
Maine wilderness, and by heroic efforts, reached 
Quebec first, but Arnold showed such in- 
capacity as a commander that he lost the con- 
fidence of both officers and men, and Mont- 
gomery's arrival was welcomed with enthusiasm. 
An assault was at once planned, a far more 

20 



desperate undertaking than Wolfe's successful 
venture. The latter led a large body of picked 
men, veterans of Prince Ferdinand and the 
Duke of Cumberland. He had a fleet to 
rescue him in case of failure, after scaling the 
Heights of Abraham, and he had an open 
field and summer weather. Montgomery's 
small force of farmers and huntsmen was poorly 
equipped and weakened by sickness, fatigue 
and exposure. They marched at dawn, De- 
cember 31st, 1775, in a blinding snowstorm to 
attack a well-manned stone redoubt. It would 
have been a miracle if they had succeeded. Up 
a narrow defile at Pres de Ville, with a sharp 
descent to the water on one side and the 
scarped rock of the fortress on the other, 
Montgomery guided his men by the dim light 
through the drifting storm, hoping to surprise 
the garrison. But the latter had timely warn- 
ing. A battery of three-pounders manned by 
Canadian militia and seamen commanded the 
narrow pathway. After fighting bravely for 
some minutes, the forlorn hope recoiled in 
confusion, leaving their leader pierced with 
three wounds and twelve other dead behind 
them. The joint attack also failed. Arnold 

21 



and Colonel Lamb, who afterwards commanded 
the American artillery at Yorktown, were both 
wounded, and surrendered in company with 
General Morgan and his Virginia corps of 
riflemen. They were all afterwards exchanged. 

It has been claimed that Aaron Burr, a mere 
stripling just out of Princeton College, bore 
Montgomery's body from the firing line, but 
this is a mistake, as Burr was with Arnold's 
detachment. When some hours later the Ca- 
nadian volunteers visited the scene of carnage, 
the American General was recognized by a 
former Oxford acquaintance, afterward Lord 
Sidmount. His bloody corpse lay in the drift- 
ing snow with one arm extended as if pointing 
the way to the citadel. 

General Henry Dearborn (1751-1829), after- 
wards senior Major-General during the war of 
1812 and Minister to Portugal, took part in 
the battle of Bunker Hill, and was captured 
with Arnold's column at Quebec, and kept a 
prisoner for four months. He left the follow- 
ing authentic account of the assault and of the 
General's tragic death : 

Montgomery led the advance with his aides, 
Cheeseman and McPherson, up the narrow de- 



file, which only allowed two or three persons 
to walk abreast. He helped, with his own 
hands, the pioneers clear the palisades, and 
entering the breach, urged his troops to follow 
— exclaiming, ' ' Come on my good soldiers, your 
General calls upon you to advance '* — or in an- 
other, and more probable, version, " Men of 
New York, follow your General." He carried a 
short dress sword, having thrown away the 
scabbard, and his magnetic manner animated 
his men, who gallantly pressed up the steep 
ascent. At that moment a single gun loaded 
with grape-shot was fired from the small bat- 
tery on higher ground, with too fatal effect, 
though only a three-pounder. Montgomery 
was struck in three places. Both his aides 
were killed, and some ten privates as well. 
The Americans were thrown into confusion, 
and having lost their leader unfortunately 
withdrew. Had they kept on, they would 
•have taken the town, as the garrison of the 
redoubt retreated precipitately after this single 
discharge, leaving the way open to victory. 

The American prisoners were confined in a 
stone seminary. The next morning several 
British officers called and asked them to 

23 



identify a crimson silk velvet cap trimmed with 
fur and bearing the initials '' R. M." em- 
broidered in gold. A grape-shot had passed 
through the cap which had been worn by Mont- 
gomery, and on looking out of the window 
they saw his lifeless body lying stark and stiff 
on a sled in the street below. 

Montgomery is described as being well- 
limbed, tall, graceful and handsome, and of 
manly address, though his face was much pock- 
marked, as was common in the days before 
Dr. Jenner. His air and manner indicated the 
real soldier. He was popular with his men, 
and knew how to inspire enthusiasm by terse 
and energetic speech. When he took com- 
mand before Quebec, " new life " was infused 
into the whole corps, and the fact that his ill- 
clad, half-armed and weary men followed him 
unflinchingly to the very cannon-mouth, showed 
his capacity for leadership. 

His remains were interred with military 
honors in a handsome coffin, January 4, 1776. 
His sword, after remaining 122 years in the 
possession of James Thompson and his de- 
scendants, of Quebec, was in 1898 chivalrously 
purchased and presented to Miss Hunt, a mem- 

24 



ber of Montgomery's family, by the Hon. 
Victor Drummond, first Secretary of the 
British Legation at Washington. This was 
during the period when the Marquis of Lome 
was Governor-General of Canada. A photo- 
graph of this sword is given in North Ameri- 
can Notes and Queries for August, 1900, 
to accompany General Dearborn's letter, for- 
warded by General James Grant Wilson. It 
is preserved in the Montgomery homestead, 
together with a life-like portrait of the General, 
an inventory of his effects after death, attested 
by Colonels Benedict Arnold and Duncan 
Campbell, together with his watch, and a trunk 
marked with his name and rank in the British 
service. 

Eulogiums were pronounced in Parliament 
upon Montgomery for his heroism and daring, 
by Edmund Burke. Chatham and Charles 
James Fox; but Lord North, while praising his 
courage, denounced him as a "rebel." In 
America, Montgomery's death was regarded as 
a national loss, like that of Warren, who fell at 
Bunker Hill, or like the lamented Ellsworth 
and Theodore Winthrop, who died in the first 
days of the Rebellion. 



In 1776, Congress ordered the present ceno- 
taph to Montgomery's memory to be made in 
France under the direction of Dr. Franklin, 
and it was shipped to New York by way of 
North Carolina to avoid capture by the British. 
In 1818 an application made to the English 
Government by De Witt Clinton to surrender 
Montgomery's remains was willingly granted, 
and on July 8th, of the same year, after lying 
in state at the Capitol at Albany, they were re- 
interred at St. Paul's with imposing ceremonies, 
second only to those at the death of Washing- 
ton. The pall-bearers were mostly Revolution- 
ary officers, including Colonels Varick, Trum- 
bull, North, Willett and Fish. 

As the steamer "Richmond" bore the 
hero's body down the Hudson, his widow, a 
sister of Chancellor Livingston, who, like the 
widow of Alexander Hamilton, survived her 
husband for fifty years, saw it go by from her 
beautiful home at Barrytown, with deep 
emotion. In a letter to a relative she wrote: 
*' When the steamboat passed with slow and 
solemn movement, stopping before my house, 
the troops under arms, the Dead March with 
muffled drums, the mournful music, the splen- 

2G 



did coffin canopied with crape and crowned 
with plumes, you may conceive my anguish. I 
cannot describe it." It is no wonder that she 
fainted from the strain of such an ordeal. She 
had asked to witness the spectacle alone, and 
was afterwards found in a swoon on the piazza 
floor. Seven years later she was interred in the 
Livin^rston vault in the rear of the old Dutch 
Church at Rhinebeck, Rev. J. Howard Suy- 
dam, pastor. A tablet to her memory is in the 
Church. 

The monument to George Frederick Cooke, 
erected in 1821, possesses peculiar attractions 
because of the genius of the actor and the 
charm of his personality. These won for him 
many warm friends and admirers, and after 
tributes of affection from prominent members 
of his profession. The inscriptions on the 
four sides of the marble shaft, which bears a 
flaming urn, form a unique combination of 
famous names. They read as follows : 

Erected to the memory of 

George Frederick Cooke 

by 

Edmund Kean of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 

1821. 

' ' Three kingdoms claim his birth, 

Both hemispheres pronounce his worth." 

27 



On the opposite side, 

Repaired by Charles Kean, 1846. 

The east face of the shaft reads : 

Repaired by E. A. Sothern, 
Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 1874. 

On the west face is the following; : 

Repaired by Edwin Booth, 1890, 

and by 

The Players, 1898. 

Many visitors, including actors from abroad, 
have reverently gazed upon this memorial to 
departed genius. Mr. Walter relates the 
manner in which the last two renovations were 
effected. One day a group of gentlemen were 
viewing the monument and observing its 
weather-worn state, one of them remarked, 
" Billy, why don't you repair it?" The other 
replied, '' I am not big enough to have my 
name placed beside the two Keans, but I will 
speak to Booth about it." The modest speaker 
was the genial ''Billy" Florence, and as a 
result of his intercession, the repairs were made. 

Dr. John W. Francis states that " Cooke 
attracted a mighty notice when, with his digni- 
fied mien and stately person, attired as the 

28 



old English gentleman, he walked Broadway. 
His funeral was an imposing spectacle. The 
reverend the clergy, the physicians, the mem- 
bers of the bar, ofificers of the army and navy, 
the literatti and men of science, the members 
of the dramatic corps, and a large concourse of 
citizens moved in the procession." 

Dr. Francis describes the manner in which 
the Cooke memorial was erected. Kean, he 
says, had early determined to erect a monu- 
ment to the memory of the actor. *' We 
waited upon Bishop Hobart for permission to 
carry out the design. Kean struck the atten- 
tion of the Bishop by his penetrating eyes and 
his refined address. ' You do not, gentle- 
men, wish the tablet inside St. Paul's? ' asked 
the Bishop. ' No, sir, ' I replied, ' we desire 
to remove the remains of Mr. Cooke from the 
strangers' vault, and to erect a monument over 
them on some suitable spot in the burial- 
ground of the church. It will be a work of 
taste and durability.' ' You have my con- 
currence then,' added he, ' but I hardly know 
how we could find a place inside the church 
for Mr. Cooke.'" The monument was finished 
June 4, 1821. Kean was markedly pleased 

29 



with the eulogistic lines, when he first saw 
them. 

" Tears fell from his eyes in abundance ; and 
as the evening closed, he walked Broadway, 
listened to the chimes of Trinity, returned 
again to the churchyard, and sang, sweeter 
than ever, ' Those Evening Bells,' and ' Come 
o'er the Sea.' I gazed upon him with more 
interest than had ever been awakened by his 
stage representations. I fancied (and it was 
not altogether fancy) that I saw a child of 
genius, on whom the world at large bestowed 
its loftiest praises, while he himself was de- 
prived of that solace which the world cannot 
give — the sympathies of the heart." 

A tragic interest attaches to the adjoining 
marble tables near the west porch, which mark 
the graves of two Revolutionary heroes and 
close friends, Major John Lucas of Georgia, 
and Major Job Sumner of Massachusetts, 
grandfather of Senator Sumner. Of nearly 
the same age (33), both died within a few 
weeks of yellow fever contracted on the same 
vessel. The inscription deserves copying in full : 

'' This tomb is erected to the memory of 
Major John Lucas, of the Georgia line of the 

30 



Army of the Revolution, and Treasurer of the 
Society of the Cincinnati of that State. He 
bore a severe and lingering decay with that 
fortitude which ever marked his character as a 
soldier, and died in this City on Tuesday, the 
18th August, 1789, aged 33 years. And this 
tomb contains the remains of Major Job Sum- 
ner, of the Massachusetts line of the same army, 
who, having supported an unblemished char- 
acter through life as the soldier, citizen and 
friend, died in this City after a short illness, 
universally regretted by his acquaintances, on 
the 16th day of September, 1787, aged 33 
years." 

" Alike in arms they ranged the glorious field; 
Alike in turn to death the Victor yield." 

These fine lines recall Webster's eloquent 
reference, in his reply to Hayne, to the joint 
share of Massachusetts and South Carolina in 
the Revolutionary struggle. 

Here is another memorial to a brave soldier : 
Cornelius Swartwout, late Captain of Artillery 
of this State, died May 15, 1787, aged 43. 
" He took an early and active part in the ser- 
vice of his country, and justly merited t})e 
character of a brave and good officer, particu- 

31 



larly at Fort Montgomery and at the siege of 
Yorktovvn in Virginia. His remains were 
interred with military honors, much regretted 
by every officer, soldier and his fellow citizens." 

Lieut. Thomas Swords, of his Britannic Ma- 
jesty's 55th Regiment of Foot, died January 
16, 1780, while his wife Mary, in 1798 " fell a 
victim to the pestilence which then desolated 
the City." Over 2,000 deaths occurred in a 
few weeks, including nearly half of those who 
were attacked. 

One of the most tasteful monuments — a 
modern reproduction — is covered with ivy, and 
bears this inscription : " E. Oswald, Colonel of 
Artillery, in the American army, an officer of 
noted intrepidity and usefulness ; a sincere 
friend and an honest man, died September 30, 
1795. Erected by his grandson. Dr. Eleazar 
O. Balfour, of Norfolk, Va." 

At the rear of the grounds stands a tomb, 
conspicuous by its peculiar shape and covered 
almost entirely with Japanese ivy, which bears 
a long metrical inscription in French to the 
memory of E. M. Bechet, Sieur de Rochefon- 
taine, a gallant French officer who, after serv- 
ing with Count de Rochambeau during the 

3'^ 



American Revolution, and also in San Do- 
mingo, enlisted in the American army and 
died January 30, 1814. He was a friend and 
companion of Talleyrand during his visit to the 
United States at the close of the 18th century, 
and his epitaph testifies to his many estimable 
qualities. 

At the north side of the church, next the 
walk, a flat brown slab bears a crest and the 
following inscription : 

'* In memory of Chakles Nordeek, 

Baron de Rabenan, 
Captain in the Hessian Regiment 
De Diffort, who departed this life 
November 30th, 1783, aged 27 years." 

This officer was evidently a man of rank and 
importance. A number of British officers are 
also buried here, including Colonel Mungo 
Campbell, Captain William Talbot, of the 17th 
Regiment Light Dragoons (1782); Samuel 
Bently, Sergeant in the 24th Regiment (1781); 
James Durbar, Captain of the Royal Artillery 
(1783); Captains Wolfe, Gibbs, Walker, 
Bond, Talbot, Logan, Norman, Horton and 
Wilcox; Midshipman Price, killed in the 
capture of the "Eagle" by the privateer 

33 



'^Yankee" off Sandy Hook (1813). Of hum- 
ble rank are : Charles Hadley, armorer of Ye 
Ofifice of Ordnance (1775), and James Davis, 
"late Smith of the Royal Artillery," (1769), 
whose tombstone bears the familiar lines: 

•' Behold and see as you pass by, 
As you are now, so once was I." 

Mr. Wies, British Consul-General, is buried 
here, as also are the Rev. Mr. Bartow and Rev. 
Mr. Winslow. 

Quite a number of ship-masters, pilots and 
other seafaring men of the navy and merchant 
marine are buried in St. Paul's. Several of 
these have quaintly characteristic epitaphs, 
such as the following to Captain James Lacy 
(1796), set. 41 : 

** Tho' Boreas blasts and boistrus waves have tossed me 

to and fro, 
In spite of both, you plainly see I harbour here below. 
Where safe at anchor though I ride, with many of our 

fleet, 
Yet once again I must set sail, my Admiral Christ to 

meet." 

The tomb of Captain Robert Dale, who died 
1804, aged 74, bears this curious line: 

'• Death Comfortably ends a well-spent life." 



His wife lies next to him, and has several 
verses commemorating her virtues. 

The grave of Captain Charles Langwell 

(1795), aet. 45, bears the familiar verse : 

'• Stop reader, shed a mournful tear, 
Think upon me who now lie here," etc. 

Captain Thomas Greenel, of the famous 
American man-of-war '' Congress," was buried 
June, 1786, set. seventy. His funeral, says a 
local reporter, " was attended by his relations, 
the gentlemen of the Vestry, a number of the 
Marine Society, and a numerous procession of 
our respectable inhabitants." 

Philip Blum, sailing-master on Commodore 
McDonough's flagship '* Saratoga" at the bat- 
tle of Lake Champlain, lies near the Broadway 
entrance. His damaged tombstone was recently 
restored by the Vestry. Another stone states 
that the occupant of the grave "perished by 
shipwreck at Sandy Hook " (1819). 

George J. Ecker, aged 26, who died January 
24th, 1804, lies at the rear of the churchyard 
near the office entrance. He was a friend and 
ally of Aaron Burr. He fought a duel with 
Alexander Hamilton's son at Weehawken, 
where the latter was killed, just three years 

35 



before his father was shot on the same spot by 
Aaron Burr. 

Between the north walk and Vesey Street is 
the grave of John Dixey, sculptor by profes- 
sion, a native of Dublin and Member of the 
Royal Academy, London, who came to his 
adopted country in 1789, and died in 1820. 
Another interesting tomb is that of Christopher 
Collis, who built the first water-works pumped 
by steam, at the Collect pond, on the site of the 
Tombs, and was one of the early advocates of 
the Erie Canal. Like many other inventors, 
he died in poverty, in 1861, at the age of 
79. Dunlap describes him as '* a learned, 
meek and benevolent gentleman," whose sole 
memorial is his portrait as *'a little old man," 
by Jarvis, in the Historical Society Library. 
One of his descendants relates that Collis was 
chased by British soldiers after Washington's 
evacuation in 1776, and hid under the tall 
grass among the gravestones in Trinity church- 
yard, where the Grenadiers vigorously prod- 
ded about with their bayonets, but did not 
succeed in touching him. Dunlap justly 
complains that while Rivington, the Tory 
printer, had a street named after him, Collis, 



a far more deserving man, and a true patriot, 
is wholly forgotten. 

One is reminded of Scott's " Waverley" and 
Stevenson's '* Kidnapped," by the inscription 
to Michael McLauchlan, a resident of Jamaica, 
West Indies, but a native of Scotland, ** who 
in infancy was left an orphan by the Rebellion 
of 1745." 

''Mr.'' Paione (1789) has the old style of 
lugubrious epitaph : 

" Hark from the tombs a doleful sound, 
Mine ears attend the cry." 

Masculine vanity is illustrated by the me- 
morial to Frances, wife of Joseph Harper, ' ' late 
of the old American Company of Canadians " 
(1791), and that to William Denning, ''an 
Enliehtened Patriot." Alexander Thomas's 
tomb proclaims with pride that he was "a 
native of Boston." A humble hero is recorded 
in Francis Scott, aet. 44, "who, to save a child, 
was himself drowned in the East River" (1811). 
The tombstone of Archibald Hunter (1800) 
was erected by the Society of Journeymen 
Cabinet-makers as a mark of respect to a worthy 
member. 

The social distinctions of the past are in- 

37 



dicated by this inscription: *' Mrs. Elizabeth 
M. Griswold, wife of Mr. John Griswold, mer- 
chant, of this City, and daughter of General 
Jedediah Huntington, of Norwich, Connecti- 
cut," born October 5, 1790, died March 6, 
1822. 

The following quaintly curious inscription 
refers to Mrs. Lydia Stringham, wife of Dr. 
James Stringham, of this City, who died Jan- 
uary 10, 1813, aged 30 years: 

" Stranger, tread lightly on this sod, 
It covers the earthly remains of one who 
was not only a wife, but the only Child 
of a Widowed Mother, and the only surviving 
Parent of an Orphan Daughter. 
The duties of which interesting occupation 
were performed by her in a manner worthy 
of the emulation of an older Christian. 
She endured a long and painful illness 
with an entire resignation to the Divine Will 
and a Cheerfulness of Mind peculiarly her own. 
(Oh ! She was gentle, virtuous and sincere) 
Too pure a spirit to continue here." 

By an accidental transposition of the date 
on a gravestone of a member of the Masonic 
Order, it reads as if he was only four years old. 
A similar mistake was made in the case of an- 
other tomb dated lOJ^S, prior to the Norman 



Conquest. General Dix refers to it in his Cen- 
tennial address with quiet humor, but the 
figures have since been changed to 1804. 

Curiosity is roused by a Welsh verse follow- 
ing an inscription on a tomb erected by Henry 
George in 1808, in memory of Catherine Owens, 
'* his intended bosom companion " who died 
aged 24. Was this an ancestor of the talented 
author of " Poverty and Progress?" Along 
metrical inscription in French is on a tomb 
over the remains of Moise Mendes Seixas, 
" deced6 11 Juillet, 1817, aged 66 and 8 
mois set, 15 jours." He was evidently a descen- 
dant of Gershom Seixas, an early Jewish Rabbi 
in New York, but there is no explanation of 
how he came to be buried among Christians. 

George Miller, 9st. 56 (1807), is thus quaintly 
eulogized: 

" For Honesty, Temperance and Frugality 

through Life, he was Equalled by Few, 

excelled by None." 

The following very original inscription is on 
a tablet close to the west porch : 

' ' A due tribute to the memory of 
John Holt, printer to this State, 
a native of Virginia, 
who patiently obeyed Death's 
awful summons, 
January 30, 178-, aged 64." 
39 



" To say that his Family lament him is needless. 

That his Friends bewail him useless, 
That all regret him unnecessary, 

For that he Merited every esteem is certain. 
The Tongue of Slander can't say less, 

Though Justice might say more, 
In token of Sincere Affection, His disconsolate Widow 

Hath caused this Monument to be erected." 

There is a characteristically defiant tone about 
the following, which recalls Emerson's famous 
verses on leaving the pulpit: ''Good bye, proud 
world, I'm going Home." 

• ' Farewell vain world I know enough of thee, 
And now I'm careless what you say of me. 
Your smiles I count not, nor your frowns I fear. 
My cares are past, my head lies quiet here; 
What faults you saw in me take care and shun, 
And look at Home. Enough there's to be done. 

Several tombstones give no clue to their iden- 
tity, like the one bearing the line: 

" Robertina, Obit, 19th January, 1819." 

Or this : 

" In memory of Obadiah, George and Lorana Painter, 
who all died in nonage." 

Sarah Oakley aged 44, (1797), is commem- 
orated by the following rather startling lines: 

" True Virtue deep in Death's cold sleep, 
Till Christ awakes the Just, 
Up Mortals ! so prepare and know, 
To Judgment come you must." 



Millicent, wife of Thomas Osborne (1803), 
has this poetic effusion : 

• ' While on this earth I did remain 

I was oppressed with sorrow, grief and pain ; 
Adieu to friends and foes hkewise. 
My journey is beyond the skies. " 

Many homely and tender tributes, wrung 
from stricken hearts, are here recorded. The 
widow of John Jones thus feelingly refers to her 
grief and resignation : 

" O! Most Cruel sudden death, 
Thus did take my husband's breath, 
But the Lord he thought it best" 

Another tomb is inscribed ** To the ever 
dear and sacred memory " of Lucy Leslie, aet. 
37, (1778). 

Here is an example of filial piety : 

" My Grandfather, My Grandmother, My Mother, 
My Father, My Little Sister, My Uncle. " 
Erected by Margaret M. Browne, 1861, 

The following is addressed to a seven months* 
babe (1815). 

" The great Jehovah from above 
His Messenger did send. 
To call the little harmless dove, 
To joys that never end." 

Maria and Eliza, daughters of Charles and 

41 



Ann Warner, aged six and two years, have this 
epitaph (1792;: 

*' Weep not for us our Parents dear, 
We are not dead but sleeping here, 
The debt is paid, our graves you see, 
Prepare for Heaven's Felicity. " 

Samuel I. Nesbitt Mercer, aged one year 
and one month (1808) : 

" Sweet Blossom! Blasted ere t'was blown, 
but of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." 

Another infant of the same age : 

" Sleep lovely babe and take thy rest, 
God called thee soon, because he thought it best." 

Over an adult : 

" Go home my friends and cease 
Your tears, I must lie here 

'till Christ appears. 
Repent in time, while time you have." 

Hannah, ''the amiable consort of John 
Greene," is eulogized as 

' ' An affectionate wife, tender parent and 
virtuous friend, beloved while living and 
now greatly lamented." 

Rizpah Allen, 1809, aet. 52, has this tribute : 

" Pressed with the hand of sore distress, in vain she 
wandered on ; 
Till God, our Saviour, arm'd with love, in Mercy called 
her home." 

42 



There is peculiar pathos in the succeeding 
apparently original lines to John Penny, " a 
native of England,'* aet. 30 (1823): 

" No kindred sigh, nor soft parental tear, 

Soothed thy pale form or graced thy mournful bier. 

With strangers was thy dying trust reposed. 

By strangers' hands thy dying eyes were closed, 

By strangers is thy Humble grave adorn'd, 

By strangers honor'd, and by strangers mourn'd." 



NOTE. 

A later edition of this pamphlet will describe the 
interesting ceremonies which have taken place in St. 
Paul's, including the iirst commencement exercises of 
King's College, now Columbia University; the reception 
to Marquis de Lafayette ; the funeral services of eminent 
patriots; different Church conventions ; and the Centen- 
nial celebration of Washington's inauguration and of his 
death. The present issue has met with gratifying appre- 
ciation and several thousand copies have already been 
sold. 



43 



'^._y 



THROUGH the generosity of a number of public- 
spirited men and women, copies of this pamphlet 
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ployees. If you care to co-operate in this effort to culti- 
vate civic pride and patriotism, please fill out and mail 
the accompanying blank. Copies can be furnished at $5 
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